Stress relief resources for veterans, servicemembers, and military families. Focus on stress relief and pain management without the use of pharmaceutical drugs (opioids). Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine available to active duty servicemembers. This is the De-Stress Vets blog, written by a Practitioner of East Asian Medicine (an Acupuncturist) and military wife. Information on Disaster Relief clinics and Stress-Relief Acupuncture.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Adaptive Clothing for Injured Servicemembers--"Sew Much Comfort" program

Blue Star Mothers is a charitable organization comprised of mothers of servicemembers. The organization started during WWII and continues its service to "provide support for active duty service personnel, promote patriotism, assist Veterans organizations, and assist in homeland volunteer efforts to help our country remain strong" [www.bluestarmothers.org].

They have a great program, called "Sew Much Comfort" that provides adaptive clothing at no charge to any injured service member (all branches and national guard). The need for adaptive clothing is great with so many servicemembers returning from the recent wars with injures. The "Sew Much Comfort" program is struggling to meet the demands for adaptive clothing at this time. If you would like to volunteer your help or sewing skills, please contact them. They distribute adaptive clothing to many military medical centers and VA hospitals across the states, Germany, and overseas combat surgical hospitals.
From the "Sew Much Comfort" website (www.sewmuchcomfort.org), you can order adaptive clothing if you are a servicemember or his/her family member. Just click on the order form and you are on your way to your own adaptive clothing.

Who wants to wear a drafty hospital gown for days or weeks on end?Sew Much Comfort also supports injured servicemembers changing needs during the recovery process. "These injuries require large fixator, prosthetics and casts that are too bulky to fit under ordinary clothing or underwear. Without adaptive clothing the only option for them is a hospital
gown. Sew Much Comfort is the only organization providing adaptive clothing at no cost to our wounded service members. All our adaptive clothing was designed with input from the wounded and medical personnel."

Healing from a physical injury in a hospital required the medical personnel to have ready access to attend the injury. More dignified than the average hospital gown, Sew Much Comfort's adaptive clothing "gives the service member and medical personnel the ability to have ready access to their injuries utilizing the adaptive openings in our clothing."
The adapted clothing "allows injured service members to have their clothing appear the same as normal civilian attire; an attribute which helps facilitate a more natural and comfortable recovery. The clothing is adapted from either store bought garments or sewn with our custom designed patterns." [www.sewmuchcomfort.org]